[ad_1]
Brazil is among the countries most affected by the corona pandemic. The first wave of April caused crowded hospitals and mass graves.
Then the virus struck again.
This time it had mutated. The P.1 variant, or the Brazilian virus, is probably more contagious and perhaps even more deadly.
Uildéia Galvão is the director of a hospital in the Amazon capital, Manaus. In the first wave, ten days passed before the hospital’s capacity reached the limit.
Now, in January, it took 24 hours, he tells the Washington Post.
He quickly ran out of oxygen and the patients were strangled to death. Several have died at home because they could not find a place in the hospital.
Bolsonaro Massacre in Brazil: Miserable Vaccine Planning
– Go dead every day
Researchers believe that the P.1 variant has been circulating in Brazil since December. It is now the dominant virus type in Manaus.
The mutant has been detected in several countries. The first case of the Brazilian mutant was discovered in the United States on Monday.
– What has been said before, that this guy is more contagious, but not more deadly, is not what we see in Manaus. It is not a feeling, but a fact, epidemiologist Noaldo Lucena told the Washington Post.
Lucena finds it hard to imagine that it could get worse.
– You see death every day. Death that could have been prevented. You choose who lives and who dies. Who gets oxygen and who doesn’t. It’s like a horror movie.
The city of Manaus is home to two million people along the river in the Amazon. Even though the city has been hit hard by the pandemic, there have been few measures and restrictions.
“Manaus represents a population that gives us a computerized indication of what happens if we allow SARS-CoV-2 to spread more or less indefinitely,” the researchers wrote in a Science paper this week.
LONG LINES: People stand in long lines to buy oxygen privately. Hospitals are crowded and without oxygen. Photo: Shutterstock / NTB
see more
Believed in herd immunity
After the big eruption in April and May, researchers and politicians believed that herd immunity had been achieved in the city. Research articles were written on how “Manaus could become the first Brazilian city to quell the pandemic.”
But in December, the number of infections and deaths began to rise again.
Two months earlier, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a prestigious Brazilian public health research institute, warned of the need for restrictions as the outlines of a new wave began to appear.
– In December we sent 13 alerts, and one very alarming, which explained that the situation was worsening. Everyone made fun of the studies and the warnings, especially President Jair Bolsonaro, researcher Jesem Orellana tells CNN.
President Bolsonaro coronasmittet
Herd immunity was used as a justification for not taking action.
On Christmas Eve, however, measures were implemented. All non-essential stores were closed. This sparked mass protests and demonstrations in the city. Two days later, Governor Wilson Lima returned to action.
Guilt protest
In an interview with CNN, Mayor Davis Almeida blamed protests and New Year celebrations for the jump in contagion, which has led to 250,000 infections and more than 7,000 deaths in the Amazon.
Shortly after the Christmas holidays, the number of hospital admissions skyrocketed. Hospitals knelt. The number of people who died at home increased from 35 people a month in May to 178 people in December, according to the Washington Post.
Sweep the pine crown under the rug
At this time, researchers believed that 76 percent of the inhabitants of Manaus had already been infected. But still, this wave of infection was bigger than the first.
On January 10, Japan announced that a new variant of the coronavirus had been detected, from a person who had recently been traveling in the Amazon region of Brazil.
The virus has had many variants, but it is especially the Brazil mutant, the UK variant and the South African mutant that are causing concern. The last two have been tested in Norway.
FHI has previously warned that the Brazilian variant may be even more contagious than the British and South African variants.
MANY DEAD: Brazil has been hit hard by the pandemic. To date, more than 7,000 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the Amazon. Photo: Michael Dantas / AFP / NTB
see more
“Asphyxia Chamber”
In mid-January, the hospitals in the Amazon capital were called a “suffocation chamber.” Hundreds of patients were transferred out of the city, some to the other side of the country.
The government was notified of the disaster, according to court documents, but did nothing to intervene, writes the Washington Post.
On January 3, hospitals announced that the health system would collapse in ten days. The White Martins company, which supplies oxygen to hospitals in Manaus, announced that it would not be able to provide the services. On January 14 and 15, several people took their last breath.
The Health Ministry has defended the response by sending doctors to the city and helped with more beds.
The Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, is now being investigated by the Minister of Justice due to allegations of inaction. He has been stationed in the city indefinitely to follow the situation.
– We had an increase in infection in early January. Tripled the number of infected. It was a completely unknown situation for everyone, it was very fast, he said on Tuesday of this week.
“Plant your butt at home”
Young patients
Governor Lima has reintroduced measures and the entire Amazon region is now in a kind of blockade. He has warned that the next few weeks could be the worst.
Intensive care physician Luan Matos de Menezes describes the virus wave as the worst since the pandemic.
– What is happening is very serious. The condition of the patients is much worse than during the first wave. It is more serious than in other parts of the country. They die faster. The number of seriously ill patients is higher and the patients are younger, he tells CNN.
– Yesterday a 24-year-old man from my neighborhood died. I have 32 and 29 year old patients. Young patients who are in a very critical condition, warns the doctor.
– Send Brazil to the slaughterhouse
An investigative article, published Wednesday in The Lancet, describes the situation in Manaus as worrying and unexpected.
The researchers note that the number of people with antibodies may have been less than expected, but they still believe it should have stopped a larger outbreak in the same population. This can be explained by the fact that one is not immune for more than a few months, the researchers believe.
They also state that this may mean that new coronavirus mutants may be more contagious, writing that virus variants should be carefully scrutinized in the future.
